


The Haunted Grove

by alianne



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-27
Updated: 2010-05-27
Packaged: 2017-10-09 18:19:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/90209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alianne/pseuds/alianne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After "The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances", and Rose asks the Doctor to take her to the banana groves at Vilengard.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Haunted Grove

There is a place, a lonely field of trees. It's not often people come here, it used to be considered bad luck, and now that food is here, well, it's not something you do, eat food from the Haunted Groves. And now, even with the cold settling in, temperature there stays constant. You'd think that would make it as much a destination spot as the springs, but no. Those who know the area know it is not truly haunted, but it still is something that perpetuates through the years. Once, a man had tried to insist that it was fine, and he had known what happened there - but as he ate one to prove it, he got shot through the chest. Ten minutes later, he woke up. No one has been able to dispel the rumors since.

_  _  _

The Doctor shivered as he stepped out of the Tardis. For all the benefits of the 51st century, they still hadn't perfected the weather prediction system. Forecasters never were trusted. Come to think of it, that never ended. He chuckled to himself as he walked a bit, across the grassy field, twirling his sonic screwdriver between his fingers. He looked back behind him. 

"You coming?"

Rose stepped out through the doors. "It's... different than I thought it was going to be."

"What were you expecting, New New New New York?"

Rose looked around her at the desolate land. "Something like that."

The Doctor jumped back and grabbed her hand, pulling her along. "It wasn't always like this - we're catching the front end of the ice age."

"The WHAT?"

"Relax. It doesn't really set in for another couple of decades."

Rose glared at him, but followed. He didn't even bother looking at her as he navigated down a hill. "Hey, you're the one who wanted to see it."

They stayed quiet as they made it down the rocky terrain. Finally Rose couldn't hold it in any longer.

"You couldn't have parked any nearer?"

He turned to look at her, and stopped. Actually stopped, not just physically stopped. Rose had rarely seen him like this, and generally only when she asked of Home.

"I made it so they couldn't undo it," he said quietly, deadly serious. "I time-locked it. Not heavily, like the War, but enough so they couldn't go back. I did what one Time Lord and one Tardis could do."

Rose stood a moment, and gently squeezed his hand. He didn't respond in kind, but he shook his head and pulled out of her grip, leading the through the hidden path. That's okay, Rose knew what he meant, even if he couldn't find the words to say it.

"Rose, STOP." 

She froze. That tone usually meant Bad Things would happen if she took another step. The Doctor came back for her.

"Don't step there. That's where I stood." He guided her around a seemingly innocuous patch of land. "That's where I stood when I made my decision, that's where we planted to do the lock. Wouldn't be good to step there."

She nodded as he picked her up and placed her on a rock, jumping up next to her, waiting expectantly.  She looked at him, confused.

"Yeah?" 

The Doctor's eyes twinkled. "Turn around."

Rose complied, and her eyes widened. "It's... massive."

The Doctor nodded, heading into the grove. "Lovely when something good replaces something destructive." He reached up, plucked one, and offered it back to her. "Banana?"

 

 


End file.
